Still, this thread isn't about the worst players but the most disappointing. For Red Wings fans Dale McCourt was a huge disappointment. Definitely up there with Fred Williams and Keith Primeau as one of the biggest.
I really don't see how he was *that* disappointing.
In 4 full seasons he led the team in scoring 3 times. His last 2 seasons with the club he had 86 and 81 points, and had 27 points in 26 games the season he was traded. He was pretty clearly an elite player for that club.
Now, he didn't turn them into a contender, but that really wasn't his fault. That team was just brutally managed at the time. And the Vachon thing wasn't really his fault either.
Nor is it his fault that the trade to get rid of him turned out to be an *awful* one for Detroit, in which they added Mike Foligno as well.
In the grand scheme of things, a #1 overall pick who averages about 80 points/season in 4+ years for the team that drafted him really isn't all that disappointing. He probably should have been a bit better, and should have had a longer career, but in a thread filled with Lawtons and Stefans and Wickenheisers he isn't even close.
I can see where you're coming from because he did have something of an unfulfilled career with Detroit compared to what was expected of him as a rookie, but to me it's a long ways away from a lot of the other guys being listed here. I could likewise list Petr Nedved as a huge disappointment for the Canucks, but in the bigger picture ... it really wasn't that bad.
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Will mention Jim Sandlak, though.
#4 overall in the '85 draft, dominated at the 1986 WJCs (named tourney top forward), was probably the best power-forward prospect in the game in the mid-1980s.
His development was the reason Vancouver traded Cam Neely - they had two young power-forward RWs, and the consensus at the time was that Sandlak was going to be a better player, and that made Neely expendable in a trade for a skill center.
Unfortunately Sandlak could rarely put his game together to be the player he should have been, and topped out at 40 points. 3rd-liner for most of his career.